On February 19, 2019, Director Marielza Oliveira and Programme Specialist for Education Robert Parua of the UNESCO Beijing Cluster Office visited Okayama University and paid a courtesy call on President Hirofumi Makino. During the visit, they exchanged views with President Makino; Atsufumi Yokoi, Vice President for Global Engagement Strategy; and Yukari Mimura, Dean of the Graduate School of Education, to reinforce the cooperative relationship between the Office and the university in the future. President Makino commented that Okayama University has a UNESCO Chair in the promotion of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and proactively promotes efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He also explained that Okayama City, which was selected as a SDGs Future City, has enthusiastically conducted ESD activities for a long time. Director Oliveira said, “The ESD activities and other initiatives toward achieving the SDGs have the highest priority also at UNESCO. We would like to deepen cooperation across the entire East Asian region which is under the jurisdiction of the UNESCO Beijing Cluster Office”.

At Okayama University, Hiroki Fujii, Professor at the Graduate School of Education and Director of the Okayama University ESD Promotion Center, and other members have been enthusiastically engaged in promoting cooperation with the Office. As part of such efforts, the university held, in September 2018, a Regional Workshop on Enhancing Community Engagement for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), under the co-sponsorship of UNESCO, Okayama Municipal Government, Okayama ESD Promotion Commission, and the Asia-Pacific Cultural Center for UNESCO. The visit by Director Oliveira this time was made possible due to these initiatives. Taking this opportunity to generate momentum, further exchange is expected in the future.